McGuire then took it a step further and tied high hotel rates to illegal immigration, saying, “There are people in this district who cannot afford a $600-a-night hotel. These people coming across our border get all these benefits from your taxpayer dollars.”

How hotel rates are connected to immigration, McGuire did not say.

IT'S HAPPENING!

Stay out of our bodies and our business.

Was $180 last year. Now $240. Need to get solar yesterday if prices keep going up.

https://projects.statenavigate.com/interactives/va/early-vote-2026/

The Commonwealth has secured more than $52 million in federal funding that will support communities impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced.

The agreements were signed by the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Over the next 10 years, the funding will help advance recovery projects on federal, state, and private lands, primarily within the Helene disaster recovery area in Southwest Virginia.

Save the date and help us spread the word. The Friends of the Richmond Public Library will be hosting our annual fall book sale from November 6-8.

Grab a new book and be a local hero. All sales go directly towards library programming and most items are $1-$3. We hope to see you there!

The Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law has identified five cases so far that deceased serologist Mary Jane Burton worked on that it’s investigating for potential wrongful convictions — and that number could go up as the center works through more cases.

Corey Parker, staff attorney at the UVA Innocence Project, told VPM News that more information is needed about a dozen other cases before the center can determine whether they should be investigated as well.

“The lack of information is the biggest hurdle that we have faced in reviewing the cases for innocence,” Parker said.

For example, Parker said her team only received trial transcripts for a small fraction of the approximately 130 cases they’ve been reviewing. 

As part of a legislative mandate to review Burton’s cases following questions about the accuracy of Burton’s work raised by the VPM podcast Admissible: Shreds of Evidence, the UVA Innocence Project has been tasked with reviewing Burton’s cases involving defendants who are still incarcerated.

Read more here.

A man arrested last week for allegedly damaging the Iwo Jima statue near the Quantico Marine base in Virginia is facing federal charges and potential action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Monday evening that Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, who lives in Stafford, Virginia, was charged with two felonies: willfully injuring or committing a depredation against property of the United States; and willfully injuring or destroying a monument on public property commemorating the service of people in the armed forces.

Hi, I am going to Shenandoah with my mom. She is 60 and is good shape for her age but she doesn't hike/run/work out. She goes to workout classes like pilates/yoga occasionally. We went to Great Falls the other day and she stumbled a little on the rocks there but was otherwise ok. Does anyone have an idea of which trail would be better or the difficulty of upper hawksbill? I want to take her on a fun hike but not a dangerous one.

In 2026, Virginians are voting on whether to make three changes to the state's constitution. Voters will decide the future of voting rights, marriage equality and reproductive rights in the commonwealth.

To help you better understand the proposed changes, VPM News' State Politics Reporter Jahd Khalil is speaking to advocates who support and oppose each of the constitutional amendments.

You can hear the arguments for and against each of the measures in the VPM News limited series Amending Virginia.

Catch up with our previous episodes below, or on our YouTube channel.

Read more about Virginia’s 2026 elections:
2026 Voter Guide: What is a provisional ballot?
Virginia Voter Guide from the Virginia Elections Collaborative 

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Ballot Question 3: The Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Upon Release Amendment | PBS | YouTube

In January 2026, a federal judge ruled on a 2023 lawsuit claiming that Virginia had overreached when it comes to felony disenfranchisement — illegally removing the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people.

As of Sept. 15, 2026, only murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter qualify as disenfranchising crimes in the commonwealth.

• Relevant state law: The Constitution of Virginia’s rules on voter qualification
• Virginia shrinks list of disenfranchising crimes, complying with federal ruling
• Nearly 235K Virginians should never have been disenfranchised, state says
• Ballot Question 3 is about more than rights restoration after felony convictions
• ELECT explains the ballot question
• Virginia Ballot Question 3: Felony Voting Rights Explained

Ballot Question 2: The Repeal Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment | PBS | YouTube

• Relevant state law: Virginia’s existing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage
• Opponents of Virginia’s marriage amendment are focusing on gender
• ELECT explainer
• Virginia Ballot Question 2: Marriage Amendment Explained (VPM)

Ballot Question 1: The Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment | PBS | YouTube

• Relevant state law: Code of Virginia on abortion access
• How does Ballot Question 1 affect Virginia’s abortion regulations?
• ELECT explains the ballot question
• Virginia Ballot Question 1: Abortion Amendment Explained (VPM)

Hello Redditors,

My name is Luci, and I am with the Lynchburg Voters League and Central Virginia Young Democrats. Tonight we are hosting an event at SuperRad Arcade Bar (58 9th Street, Lynchburg, Virginia, 24504), from 7-10! The event is titled: Game On With Tom. Our goal is to get younger voters engaged in politics. Over the past decade, due to the rise of social media and the polarization of politics, Gen-Z and Millennial voters have become disengaged, misinformed, and uneducated about our political climate. As a result, we want to reengage voter turnout among Gen-Zers and Millennials. As a result, we came up with this event! From 7:00 pm- 10:00 pm TONIGHT, we will be at SuperRad Arcade Bar for a night of Free Games, Free Food (Pizza from Benny’s!), and political engagement! We would love to see you all there, even if you are just there for the games haha! However, this is also a great way to engage with political organizations and engage with other young voters. Stop on by! We would love to have you!

Course done, LLC done. Want Class C under MSC so I can skip the specialty exam. I know it’s limited to one activity the Board approves.

Got about three years of construction experience (mostly under a licensed contractor in Florida) plus some independent work here in VA.

I do a lot of repair work — tuckpointing, masonry repair, chimney repair, painting existing surfaces, hardscape repair, concrete patching, stucco/parging, tile repair — and I’m trying to figure out which one makes the most sense to request under MSC.

If you’ve actually gotten MSC:

- What single activity did they approve for you?

- How tight did they word the restriction?

- Board hearing or just paperwork?

- How’d you document the experience (out-of-state verification work)?

- How long did it take and any headaches?

Any real examples help. Thanks.

21F : I just started getting to ride my 2026 Honda rebel 300, I've been to work twice now and I've gotten comfortable but I'm always riding alone. I see all the fun bikers around but I dont know anybody! If anyone knows any groups welcoming new riders, I'd love to know! I have very high social anxiety but I'd love to have a buddy around..

See also r/VirginiaNews

The door to switch your Medicaid from Anthem to another plan closes when open enrollment ends this Saturday Oct 31, Halloween. Sentara says they are no longer negotiating with Anthem.

Come January 2027, Medicaid folks on Anthem who want to use Sentara will be out of network.

Side-by-side plan comparisons, switching plans online, etc:

virginiamanagedcare.com

Overview, guidelines:

coverva.dmas.virginia.gov

You can also choose plans on your phone using the Virginia Managed Care Mobile App (aka Virginia Cardinal Care), free download on Apple App Store and Google Play Store

Anybody who prefers not to use screens can change plans via phone (though I expect the wait times will be real long on Friday):

1-800-643-2273 (TTY: 1-800-817-6608)

Hi all, I am looking for recommendations: we have 100 acres in Highland County, VA, outside of Monterey. We have a home on the property part way up the mountain, but I am interested in buying (prefab) or having someone build a cabin or two that would each comfortably sleep 2+ people so as to expand the number of guests that we can have. It doesn’t need to be fancy and would be off-grid. To access the land, there is a dirt/gravel road in good condition but you must cross a stream (a decent SUV makes easy work of this task). I’m not super handy so I’m looking to pay someone to do this.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place, state park or natl park or.... Wherever....., where I can see some good views of the night sky. I'm near Williamsburg. Lots of forums recommend going to Staunton River state park. That's a little over 3 hours away from me.

When I was a kid in boy scouts, I thought we went to York River state park, but their website doesn't say anything about stargazing, and they don't offer any ranger led evening events.

I was hoping to find something within an hour or an hour and a half of me.

Barbie: A Cultural Icon, a new exhibit at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, is bringing more than six decades of fashion, culture and nostalgia to Richmond — with a special spotlight on six specific Barbies connected to the commonwealth.

The traveling exhibit traces Barbie’s evolution from her 1959 debut to the present day, giving visitors a closer look at how the famous doll came to life and has remained relevant for roughly seven decades.

Associate Curator Elizabeth Klaczynski said the Barbie dolls on display also reflect the changes in opportunities for women over the last 67 years.

“Barbie has now had over 250 careers. She’s been president seven times,” Klaczynski said. “One of the things I think that is most special about this exhibit is you can see, decade by decade, how Barbie’s evolution has really reflected the changing roles of women in American society.”

Klaczynski added that the exhibition also places an emphasis on diversity and inclusion: “Barbie started off with a sort of very singular identity, and now she has over 35 skin tones, multiple different body types, different hairstyles, different levels of ability.”

Flipping through the doll catalog in preparation for the exhibit, Klaczynski said she was both surprised and delighted to discover Barbie had six Virginia-inspired dolls, which now make up the “Virginia is for Barbie” collection.

Read more here.